England is back in a National Lockdown as soaring covid case numbers threaten to overwhelm the health service. The move follows advice from the uks chief medical officers who raised the coronavirus alert level to the highest possible. Mrjohnson said the weeks ahead will be the hardest yet. It will be the hardest yet. Is clear that we need to t more it is clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out. In england we must therefore enter a National Lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant. That means the government is once again instruct you to stay at home. You may only leave home for limited reasons omitted in law such as to shop for essentials, to work if you absolutely cannot work from home, to exercise, to seek medical assistance such as getting a covid test or to escape domestic abuse. Boris johnson didnt announce any new support for businesses though, something that worried a lot of Business Leaders. He did say more details will follow on wednesday, so perhaps there will be another announcement by the chancellor. Here is what some Business Leaders had to say. Adam marshall, director general of the british chambers of commerce. Enhanced support for businesses, a turbo charged vaccine rollout, and delivery of existing promises on mass testing must be delivered to enable the uk to restart, rebuild and renew. Frances ogrady, general secretary of the tuc said in the wake of school closures, ministers need to help working families by encouraging employers to furlough parents who cant work because of childcare responsibilities. And helen dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium pointed out already, 178,000 retailjobs have been lost in 2020, and with over 250,000 retail staff currently on furlough, that number could increase dramatically in the new year joining me now is tej parikh, chief economist at the institute of directors. Good morning to you. What does the chancellor need to announce this week, do you think, given this week, do you think, given this third lockdown . The main way to supplier to provide support for business is to improve discretionary grant funds that can help support business that has closed down. We already know there is an extension to loan scheme and the loan scheme until spring so gra nts the loan scheme until spring so grants are the main way to pick up grants are the main way to pick up some of the slack. More generally there needs to be a roadmap for how the vaccine will be rolled out and the governments support plan in terms of economic support package across the year which will help Business Leader plan better for the coming months. Also critical for employers is how long the fellow scheme will last for and will be extended for some months, given this new lockdown and what that means for many businesses. We know that this new lockdown will prolong the difficult Business Conditions that many have already faced. It means that many businesses are likely to go further into debt and we could see more insolvency and for households, those who have already been made unemployed will find it harder to find a job as vacancy will not pick up as we thought it might at the start of the year. What does this mean for the economy, in your opinion . It will absolutely slow down the expected recovery that we were hoping for this year. A lot of businesses will have difficult conditions that pile onto the legacy of last years tough cash flow environment. So were likely to see unemployment pick up likely to see unemployment pick up this yearand likely to see unemployment pick up this year and it will take us up this year and it will take usa up this year and it will take us a lot longer to get back to where we were for the pandemic. And for the chancellor, he will need. Deeper in terms of borrowing to spend to keep the uk economy going, given the fa ct we uk economy going, given the fact we are also getting used to the new trading relationship with the eu and what that means in particularfor the with the eu and what that means in particular for the city. With the eu and what that means in particularfor the city. A big contributor to tax revenue for the government. It means that the budget that has been planned for march will be crucial. It means that, u nfortu nately, we crucial. It means that, unfortunately, we will have to keep spending more and we will have to do not increase taxation across the uk because i think it is important that there is some form of stimulus and that we realise they cannot bea and that we realise they cannot be a cliff edge in the support that business has had since the start of the pandemic. We need to slowly wind our way down and support business to adjust to the new world. Great to talk to you again and i am sure we will see you soon. Now to germany where later this morning chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with regional leaders, and they are expected to agree to extend the pandemic restrictions beyond january the 10th to curb infection rates that are still running high. The country had been seen as relatively successful in controlling the pandemic compared with european neighbours, thanks in part to successful testing and tracing. But there is a growing recognition among political leaders that what was dubbed lockdown lite has not achieved enough. Lets go live to frankfurt and ca rsten brzeski is global head of Macro Research at ing. Lovely to see you as well. Talk us lovely to see you as well. Talk us through what is happening in germany to take we have been in lockdown since early christmas and we will now see Angela Merkel and the regional president s today deciding on an extension of restrictions. Probably until the end of january. And what does that mean . It is the situation that we last saw in england, namely that all nonessential stores will remain closed and that people are allowed to go to work, that any social activities must be brought down and the open question right now is to what to do with schools. Christmas holidays have been extended for schools and the big question is will they extend these School Holidays until the end of january extend these School Holidays until the end ofjanuary or will they reopen school and allow parents to go back to work . In terms of support for business, what is in place at the moment and will that be increased . Weve not had any announcement about an increase. What is in place is a very extensive furlough scheme which had already been extended until the end of 2021. We still have very comfortable support schemes for companies, loans and direct support but we have also seen many problems in implementing these government schemes. Looking at november when we saw the second lockdown, Many Companies were offered direct grants but these gra nts offered direct grants but these grants have not been paid out yet so this will only happen in january. There is a bit of a delay, many administrative hurdles to really get to the money and we will have to hear today whether there could be an extension of the support schemes. The big question for germany and all European Countries will be how to deal with a wave of insolvencies that will probably come. And in terms of the outlook for the german economy, youre a huge input into the european budget, what is the outlook . We had a contraction in the fourth quarter, that is very likely, and a weak start to the new quarter which means that probably for economists, a technical recession with two contractions in a row. Fourth quarter 2020 and the First Quarter 2020 and the First Quarter 2021 and then, as in all other economies with a further rolling out of the vaccine and higher temperatures, the economy will pick up and accelerate from the Second Quarter onwards but we will have to wait until summer, the second half of the year to see a significant and strong recovery unfold. Great to talk to you and thank you for being on the programme. I must say, at this time of year i do read at this time of year i do read a lot of detail about what people say about economic recovery and most seem to agree that the Third Quarter of this year, regardless of if you are talking the us or the uk, is when we will see a pickup in growth. You saw a sneak preview of our next story there, it coined. The intense bitcoin roller coaster ride continues with the price falling sharply after it pulled back from a spectacular new year rally. The value of the worlds biggest cryptocurrency fell as much as i7 on monday in the biggest drop since march 2020. It comes after a stellar year that saw bitcoin top 34,000 for the first time on sunday. In a rare move in an american tech giant, more than 200 workers at google parent alphabet have taken steps to form a labour union. They say the organisation will give staff greater power to voice concerns about discriminatory work practices and how it handles issues like online hate speech. The move follows walkouts and other actions by staff in recent years. Supermarkets Online Shopping operations are once again under strain as customers rushed to book deliveries ahead of the new coronavirus lockdown. Within a couple of hours of Prime MinisterBoris Johnsons speech to the nation on monday, shoppers reported problems with sainsburys and tesco. Sainsburys grocery app went down for a time, and soon after the announcement, 5,3110cado shoppers were in a queue. The uk cannot duck tackling inequalities of health, ethnicity, education and jobs post covid, a major review has warned. Children from poorer households found it harder to do schoolwork during lockdown and have been more likely to miss school since september, it notes. The review is calling for extra support for children who have fallen behind and help for school and University Leavers to find jobs. In a surprise move, the New York Stock Exchange says it no longer intends to move forward with the delisting of china mobile ltd, China Telecom corp ltd and China Unicom Hong Kong ltd. Sharanjit leyl is following the story from our Asia Business hub. If you were watching us yesterday, we were telling you the opposite. Quite a u turn. We were talking about this just yesterday, sally, the chinese reaction to the delisting of these Telecom Companies but now as you say it is a complete u turn and the New York Stock Exchange says it no longer plans to delist three of the biggest Telecommunication Companies in china. And in a statement, the exchange said it made the decision, quote, due to lack of further consultation with regulatory authorities. Shares issued by the companies will continue to be traded and listed on the stock exchange. Last week the exchange that it was going to delist those firms. It was a response to the orderfrom president firms. It was a response to the order from President Trump to bar investment in 31 companies that are controlled or owned by the chinese military. Aside from the statement ijust read you, there is no clear explanation as to why the exchange has made this u turn. We know we heard from the Chinese Foreign ministry, they called the plant delisting of the three companies unwise and they denounced what they said we re they denounced what they said were random arbitrary and uncertain rules. The Chinese Companies being added on this ever expanding list i being included in the last days of President Trump s presidency in this analyst had said it was designed to make it hard for president elect Bidens Administration to ryan wind these new rules back. But judging by todays about face that may not be the case. The three companies though not earn all their the companies are listed on us stock markets and their share listings have become tangled in ongoing diplomatic and trade frictions between the us and china. Like many other Large Companies they have dual listings in the us and hong kong but no surprise shares were down in hong kong and the us yesterday but they do rally today. Shares in unicom soaring as high as 9 today on the news. Thank you. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come with scenes like these a distant memory what lies ahead for the festivals industry. The japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. Thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. Good grief after half a century of delighting fans around the world, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. The singer paul simon starts his tour of south Africa Tomorrow despite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. They Say International artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. Around the world, people have been paying tribute to the iconic rock star david bowie who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. His family announced overnight that he had died of cancer at the age of 69. The worlds tallest skyscraper opens later today. The burj dubai, has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. This is bbc world news, the latest headlines new National Lockdowns in england and scotland as the more infectious variant of coronavirus continues to see a surge in cases. France speeds up its Vaccination Programme after a sluggish start draws an angry rebuke from president macron. Back on the campaign trail President Trump and Joe Biden Campaign in georgia ahead of a runoff vote to control the senate. New yorks Transit System is the lifeblood of the city. It moves millions of people each day but the pandemic has made that a lot harder. Reductions in ridership as more people work from home has led to a massive budget shortfall. And those still riding subways and buses are more likely to be essential workers, at higher risk of catching and spreading covid 19. So what does that mean for americas largest Public Transit agency . Our new York Business correspondent Samira Hussain went underground. Its the engine that powers new york citys economy. The largest Transit System in america. 5. 5 Million People used to use the subway each day until the coronavirus took hold of the big apple. Full disclosure, this is the first timei disclosure, this is the first time i am on the subway since march. Iam time i am on the subway since march. I am able to work from home and if i need to get anywhere, well, i drive. And so many new yorkers are doing the same thing. And thats why subway ridership has dropped by 70 . But not everyone has the option of avoiding Public Transit to protect their health. Mr thompson was a train operator until he got sick himself. Back in mid, late march, icame himself. Back in mid, late march, i came into contact with a coworker who tested positive. I basically called out of work from them because i didnt want to get anyone else sick. Since this one citys economy makes up this one citys economy makes up10 of this one citys economy makes up 10 of americas, keeping its trains and buses moving is essential to more than just new yorkers. But the workers who operate the system say they dont get the front line treatment of other essential industries. We dont get that respect, though. As a fireman ora respect, though. As a fireman or a policeman or a nurse or a doctor, essential workers. As i said, we dont get that respect. James is a bus operator. Despite his 10 years of experience, he has felt alone in protect himself against the virus. A lot of my co workers or some of my co workers, a couple had passed away due to the virus. Some have been getting sick. It is just rough with this pandemic, though, you know. And those difficulties are likely to continue. Thes transit authority, the mta, has gone to the federal government asking for 12 billion without success. In i hope a bite and Administration May be more willing to help. Biden even with records low ridership, million still use the buses and subway commerce on their way to essential jobs. That means keeping the city going during the rest of the pandemic and rejoin economic recovery will mean protecting the workers who keep us all moving. For many of us, Music Festivals are the highlight of the summer, a chance to meet up with friends and revel in live music played on vast open air stages. But covid 19 decimated the industry in 2020, with revenues across the sector falling by 90 . Many fans are now hoping the arrival of vaccines will mean festivals can go ahead this year but organisers are having to make decisions now as to whether it will be viable to hold events. Leaders in the sector in the uk will give evidence before a Parliamentary Select Committee today, which is looking to draw up a blueprint for reviving live music. Many in the sector are calling on the government to introduce an Insurance Scheme similar to the one put in place in germany, so that planning can begin without the fear of organisers being